Haiven: AI Protection for Young Gamers

Josh Muccio (0:00)

Welcome to The Pitch, where startup founders raise millions and listeners can invest. I'm Josh Muccio.

Lisa Muccio (0:06)

And I'm Lisa Muccio. And on the show today, we have Jen and Luke with Haiven. They're raising $3 million.

Josh Muccio (0:12)

Video games.

Lisa Muccio (0:14)

Do do do do do do do.

Josh Muccio (0:16)

Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

Lisa Muccio (0:19)

Wow, impressive.

Josh Muccio (0:20)

Thanks, well, I played a lot of Mario.

Lisa Muccio (0:24)

The old days of video games, so great. So great. They're offline. You're playing in real life with your siblings, shooting each other up.

Josh Muccio (0:32)

But nowadays, it's chaos out there. Toxic chat, predators, addiction, mental illness. Today's founders want to fix that because it's all fun and games until you have a child that likes video games.

Then you realize this is not fun and games like the Mario of old. This is a battlefield. Not the video game battlefield, but a battlefield for our children's minds.

Lisa Muccio (1:04)

Yeah. I hope that today's episode really does make an impact because there's just so many parents who don't understand the dangers that are out there.

Josh Muccio (1:14)

Yeah.

Today, we have a special guest on the show, our son. Today's founders will have to convince not only the VCs, but a 12-year-old gamer that they have the solution for toxic gaming culture.

Lisa Muccio (1:31)

The Pitch for Haiven is coming up after this. We're hosting two events this November, a live show in New York City, and also our Season 17 taping in San Francisco.

Josh Muccio (1:40)

Oh my gosh.

Charles Hudson (1:41)

It's going to be so good.

Lisa Muccio (1:42)

I love the tapings.

Josh Muccio (1:44)

Best season yet. Come join us at either the live show or the SF taping of the next season. Go to pitch.show.events.

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Welcome back to The Pitch for Haiven. Let's meet the investors.

Charles Hudson with Precursor Ventures.

Charles Hudson (2:42)

We have 500 companies, so you pick it, we have it.

Josh Muccio (2:45)

Mike Ma with Sidecut Ventures.

Mike Ma (2:47)

I got strings. I'm not an easy yes.

Josh Muccio (2:49)

Ellie Bahrmasel with Paranaut.

Ellie Bahrmasel (2:51)

Entrepreneurship is the dance between hubris and humility.

Josh Muccio (2:54)

Elizabeth Galbut with Sogal Ventures.

Elizabeth Galbut (2:56)

Not all exits are created the same.

Josh Muccio (2:59)

And Jeff Cantalupo with Listen Ventures.

Jeff Cantalupo (3:01)

Do you want this to be a premium brand?

Elizabeth Galbut (3:13)

Haiven.

Lisa Muccio (3:23)

Nice to meet you. Ellie.

Ellie Bahrmasel (3:25)

Good to see you.

Elizabeth Galbut (3:26)

Elizabeth.

Charles Hudson (3:27)

Charles.

Lisa Muccio (3:28)

Jeff. Luke.

Charles Hudson (3:31)

Hey Charles. Nice to meet you.

Lisa Muccio (3:32)

We got to do this.

Jeff Cantalupo (3:33)

Hey Luke. Jeff.

Jennifer Ritchie (3:34)

They're in.

Ellie Bahrmasel (3:35)

Welcome to the party. Right?

Luke Ritchie (3:37)

Hi guys.

So my name is Luke Ritchie. I'm the CEO of Haiven. This is my co-founder and wife, Jennifer. We've had three exits and we've done AI and gaming for places like Department of Defense, Pokémon GO, Meta, Barbie. One of the games we did was doing $35 million a month in revenue when we handed it off to the client.

Jennifer Ritchie (4:01)

So a few years ago, we were building what we thought was going to be our next big game. It had global chat at its core and as we started digging deeper, there were things that we couldn't ignore. 63% of Gen A, Gen Z trafficking happens in digital chat. Youth suicide is up 62% and nearly every Gen A child is gaming.

As builders, as parents, as believers, it broke our hearts knowing this place where the kids are spending the most time is where they're the most exposed, exploited and hunted.

So we pulled the chat out of our game so that we can solve the real problem. And this led to the creation of Haven. So we are a protective chat and gaming platform that detects toxicity, predators and mental health risk and actually intervenes. So we don't just block the harm. We actually guide behavior through our VibeScore system and other really fantastic gamification methods that leads to a safer, healthier gaming culture.